{"id":404067,"date":"2026-04-17T21:54:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-17T21:54:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/404067\/"},"modified":"2026-04-17T21:54:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-17T21:54:08","slug":"the-innovations-that-changed-the-art-of-painting-from-canvas-to-acrylic-paint","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/404067\/","title":{"rendered":"The Innovations That Changed the Art of Painting, From Canvas to Acrylic Paint"},"content":{"rendered":"

How to
Be Cultured<\/a> Menu Art <\/p>\n

\u201cAlong the River During the Qingming Festival\u201d (detail, 1085-1145) by Zhang Zeduan. Pictures of History\/Bridgeman Images<\/p>\n

Scroll Painting<\/p>\n

What it is: Believed to have developed during China\u2019s Han dynasty (206 B.C.-A.D. 220), horizontal scroll paintings made from ink on paper or silk were designed to be viewed progressively as they unrolled.<\/p>\n

Why it mattered: Almost as if they were watching a film, \u201cviewers were physically activated as they looked,\u201d says Anne Higonnet, 67, an art history professor at Barnard College and Columbia University.<\/p>\n

How it developed: Scroll painting thrived in China and Japan from the 10th century A.D. onward, according to Higonnet; the ease of transporting them in rolls helped.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Famous examples: The Chinese painter Zhang Zeduan (1085-1145) captured daily life in intricate scrolls, while Wang Hui (1632-1717) revived the form of landscape scroll painting in the 17th century. <\/p>\n

Sistine Chapel ceiling (detail, 1508-12) by Michelangelo. Erich Lessing\/Art Resource, N.Y.<\/p>\n

True Fresco<\/p>\n

What it is: Egg tempera \u2014 pigment mixed with water and egg yolk \u2014 is applied to a wall coated with wet lime plaster. As the surface dries, it hardens, forming a protective barrier over the image.<\/p>\n

Why it mattered: Fresco \u201cencourages artists to imagine self-expression on an enormous, architectural scale,\u201d Higonnet says. Plus: \u201cThe medium protected itself.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

How it developed: It was famously used in ancient Rome \u2014 notably in Pompeii \u2014 and revived during the Renaissance.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Famous examples: Michelangelo\u2019s Sistine Chapel has to be deep cleaned \u201cevery once in a while \u2014 every 300 years,\u201d Higonnet says.<\/p>\n

\u201cPortrait of Giovanni Arnolfini and His Wife\u201d (1434) by Jan van Eyck. \u00a9 The National Gallery, London<\/p>\n

Oil Paint<\/p>\n

What it is: Made by suspending pigment in oil, the material replaced tempera in the mid-15th century as the medium of choice for European painters.<\/p>\n

Why it mattered: Oil paint \u201callows for the absorption and the reflection of light, which helps create an illusion of depth,\u201d explains Laura Hoptman, 64, the executive director of the Drawing Center in New York.<\/p>\n

How it developed: \u201cThe first use of oil paint dates to the seventh century in Afghanistan, and it was also used in Greek and Roman times,\u201d Hoptman says.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Famous examples: The 15th-century Flemish painter Jan van Eyck used it to create luminous altarpieces and portraits. The Venetian painters Titian and Tintoretto were among the first Italians to embrace the medium in the 16th century. <\/p>\n

\u201cParnassus\u201d (1497) by Andrea Mantegna. Mus\u00e9e du Louvre, Paris \u00a9 RMN\/DR. Photo R.M.N.\/G\u00e9rard Blot<\/p>\n

Canvas<\/p>\n

What it is: Canvas \u2014 tightly woven and stretched linen or cotton \u2014 gradually replaced wood panels as the surface of choice for European painters over the course of the 15th century.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Why it mattered: \u201cPaintings become lighter, less exposed to fluctuations in humidity and less fragile,\u201d says Davide Gasparotto, 60, the senior curator of paintings at the Getty Museum in Los Angeles.<\/p>\n

How it developed: Renaissance Venice was a hub for painting on canvas because the city\u2019s humidity made it difficult to work with tempera on wood.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Famous examples: Early adopters included the Italian Renaissance artists Andrea Mantegna and Giovanni Bellini.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Last Supper\u201d (1495-98) by Leonardo da Vinci. Photo: \u00a9 Dea Picture Library\/Art Resource, N.Y.<\/p>\n

Linear Perspective<\/p>\n

What it is: To create the illusion of three dimensions on a two-dimensional surface, artists place a vanishing point on the horizon line so that objects appear smaller the farther away they are from the viewer.<\/p>\n

Why it mattered: The combination of canvas, oil paint and perspective enabled European artists to \u201ccreate the most realistic reproduction of life,\u201d Hoptman says.\u00a0<\/p>\n

How it developed: The Renaissance architect Filippo Brunelleschi is credited with advancing linear perspective in the early 15th century. <\/p>\n

Famous examples: The use of linear perspective in Leonardo da Vinci\u2019s \u201cLast Supper\u201d and Raphael\u2019s \u201cSchool of Athens\u201d (1509-11) calls attention to the compositions\u2019 central figures.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Starry Night\u201d (1889) by Vincent van Gogh. Digital image \u00a9 The Museum of Modern Art\/Licensed by Scala\/Art Resource, N.Y.<\/p>\n

Commercially Available Paint<\/p>\n

What it is: Paint was stored in animal bladders for more than 100 years, says Aimee Ng, 44, the chief curator of New York\u2019s Frick Collection. But oil paint was not widely available in metal tubes until the mid-1800s.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Why it mattered: Because they no longer had to grind pigments or mix materials by hand, artists had more time to actually make paintings. Plus tubes kept paint fresh and made it easier to transport, allowing \u201cartists like the Impressionists to go outdoors,\u201d Ng says.\u00a0<\/p>\n

How it developed: The Industrial Revolution made it possible for pigments to be ground uniformly, produced at scale and distributed widely through rail networks.<\/p>\n

Famous examples: Without commercially available paint, Vincent van Gogh wouldn\u2019t have applied such thick daubs to \u201cThe Starry Night.\u201d \u201cYou can only thickly apply paint when you have a lot of it,\u201d says the curator and arts educator Sarah Urist Green, 46.<\/p>\n

\u201cNature Abhors a Vacuum\u201d (1973) by Helen Frankenthaler. \u00a9 2026 Helen Frankenthaler Foundation, Inc.\/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Patrons\u2019 Permanent Fund and Gift of Audrey and David Mirvish, Toronto<\/p>\n

Acrylic Paint\u00a0<\/p>\n

What it is: A kind of paint made by suspending pigment in an emulsion of acrylic plastic and water. When it dries, it becomes water-resistant.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Why it mattered: Acrylic allowed for \u201cmore texture to appear on the surface\u201d of the canvas, says Alexander Alberro, 56, an art history professor at Barnard College and Columbia University. \u201cIt\u2019s cheaper and easier to use than oil.\u201d<\/p>\n

How it developed: Technicians created the material in the mid-1900s as they realized plastic could yield a paint that dried faster than oil.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Famous examples: Acrylic made painting accessible to the hobbyist. It also facilitated the bold, flat aesthetic of Pop Art. Proponents included the Abstract Expressionist Helen Frankenthaler and the British artist David Hockney.<\/p>\n

\u201cMarilyn Monroe (Twenty Times)\u201d (1962) by Andy Warhol. National Gallery of Art, Washington \u00a9 2026 The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc.\/Licensed by Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York<\/p>\n

Silk-Screen Painting<\/p>\n

What it is: Ink is pushed through a stencil and a mesh screen onto canvas, enabling artists to render the same image in different colors.<\/p>\n

Why it mattered: \u201cIt brings the photograph and the painterly together,\u201d says Alberro. <\/p>\n

How it developed: Originally employed for posters, signs and fabric designs in the early 1900s, the method was famously adopted by the Pop artist Andy Warhol in 1962. <\/p>\n

Famous examples: Warhol used silk-screen painting to create his best-known works of Marilyn Monroe, Elvis Presley and Campbell\u2019s Soup cans. Robert Rauschenberg mixed silk-screen and oil paint to create his \u201cRetroactive\u201d series, which contains images of John F. Kennedy, in 1963. <\/p>\n

\u201cBaikoko at the Mouth of the Mwachema River\u201d (2016) by Michael Armitage. \u00a9 Michael Armitage. Photo: \u00a9 White Cube (Ben Westoby), courtesy of the artist, David Zwirner and White Cube<\/p>\n

Barkcloth<\/p>\n

What it is: Barkcloth is made by soaking the bark of a ficus tree in water and pounding it until it becomes a flat, pliable surface on which to paint.<\/p>\n

Why it mattered: Barkcloth, unlike canvas, offers built-in textural interest. \u201cThe imperfections are part of what gives the painting character,\u201d says Chika Okeke-Agulu, 59, a professor of art history at Princeton University.\u00a0<\/p>\n

How it developed: Having been used in Africa, Southeast Asia and Australia for thousands of years, barkcloth was revived at the Makerere University in Uganda in the 1960s and \u201970s, when \u201cartists were looking for non-Western techniques in the period of decolonization,\u201d Okeke-Agulu says.<\/p>\n

Famous examples: It\u2019s mainly associated with the royal court of the Buganda Kingdom in modern-day Uganda, which used the material to make clothing and burial shrouds. More recently, contemporary artists like the British Kenyan painter Michael Armitage have embraced it as a painting surface in lieu of canvas.<\/p>\n

These interviews have been edited and condensed.<\/p>\n

More in Art <\/p>\n

American Land Art<\/p>\n

\u00a9 Holt\/Smithson Foundation and Dia Art Foundation\/Licensed by Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York, courtesy of Holt\/Smithson Foundation. Photo: Nancy Holt<\/p>\n

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Essential Museum Works<\/p>\n

On loan from His Majesty the King, Royal Collection Trust\/\u00a9 2023 His Majesty King Charles III<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Is It Surreal?<\/p>\n

Roberto Montenegro, \u201cThe Double\u201d (1938). Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Louise and Walter Arensberg Collection<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Masks<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Postwar Art<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Conceptual Art Explained<\/p>\n

Robert Barry\u2019s \u201cInert Gas Series: Helium\u201d (1969). Courtesy of Robert Barry and Galerie Greta Meert<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Essential Pottery<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Painting Movements<\/p>\n

Collection of the National Palace Museum<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Intangible Art<\/p>\n

Pierre Huyghe, \u201cUntilled (Liegender Frauenakt)\u201d (2012). \u00a9 2026 Pierre Huyghe\/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York, courtesy of Art Gallery of Ontario. Photo: AGO<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

What Is Performance Art?<\/p>\n

Marina Abramovi\u0107 performing \u201cThe Artist Is Present\u201d at the Museum of Modern Art in 2010. Digital image \u00a9 The Museum of Modern Art\/Licensed by SCALA\/Art Resource, N.Y.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Notorious Controversies<\/p>\n

Robert Mapplethorpe, \u201cJoe, NYC, 1978\u201d \u00a9 Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation, used with permission<\/p>\n

<\/a> See the rest of the issue<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"How to Be Cultured Menu Art \u201cAlong the River During the Qingming Festival\u201d (detail, 1085-1145) by Zhang Zeduan.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":404068,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[14111,2273,307,304,305,306,308,93,177969,177970,61,60,177971,135041,177968],"class_list":{"0":"post-404067","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arts-and-design","8":"tag-anne","9":"tag-art","10":"tag-arts","11":"tag-arts-and-design","12":"tag-artsanddesign","13":"tag-artsdesign","14":"tag-design","15":"tag-entertainment","16":"tag-higonnet","17":"tag-hoptman","18":"tag-ie","19":"tag-ireland","20":"tag-laura","21":"tag-paint","22":"tag-tculture2026"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/404067","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=404067"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/404067\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/404068"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=404067"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=404067"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=404067"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}